New show builds on trend of single, female buyers

Host Sandra Rinomato (right) and buyer is Sarah Yurichuk (left) look at a condo as they pretend to film for a new HGTV show called 'Buy Herself' in Toronto.

Photograph by: Tyler Anderson
, Postmedia News

Single women are saying "I do" to mortgages.

"No man. No dual income. No problem," is the tag line of the new HGTV show Buy Herself, which documents the increasing trend of women buying homes solo.

Host Sandra Rinomato, a certified real estate broker, author of Realty Check: The Real Scoop on Real Estate and award-winning Canadian entrepreneur, says women are investing in property with or without a partner.

It's a trend that's certainly being seen in the nation's capital. In 2009, the majority of singles making first-time purchases in Ottawa were women aged 25-30, according to the most recent First-Time Homebuyers' Report by Royal LePage.

"Women are buying real estate because they equate it with financial security," says Rinomato.

Growing up, she didn't think of her financial future.

"I was raised as a young, Italian girl to think that the man was going to take care of all that stuff."

But after her first marriage ended, she became a certified real estate agent and realized owning her own house was a realistic goal. "I didn't think that a failed marriage was something that I had to use as a road block. I didn't want it to stop me from carrying on with my life."

So she made a bold decision to buy a house by herself. Now, years later, Rinomato owns four houses with her new husband and one on her own.

Leo Maiorino, a mortgage agent at Mortgage Brokers Ottawa, says single women fit into the real estate market today just as well as anyone else.

"The demographic has changed in terms of employment and getting out into the workforce ... You have a lot more major breadwinners amongst females out in the corporate world," he says, adding that the number of single female buyers has certainly increased since he entered the business 27 years ago.

Another Royal LePage report, focusing on female buyers in Canada, found that in 2007, 30 per cent of single women were homeowners, as well as 45 per cent of divorced or separated women and 64 per cent of widowed women.

Maiorine says it's much easier for men and women alike to get a mortgage today because mortgage insurance companies such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. allow people to take out a mortgage with a smaller down-payment.

"When I first started, people needed to have a 25-per-cent down payment - now they can buy a property with as little as five-per-cent down," he says.

The smaller down payment is not the only factor contributing to good buying opportunities in Ottawa.

Ron Desjardins is vice-president at PMA Brethour Realty Group, a real estate firm that works with builders in Ottawa and Toronto. He says the real estate market in the nation's capital doesn't suffer from the boom-bust cycle that most major cities endure.

"In Ottawa we're like the Rock of Gibraltar - we have a market that is very, very stable."

Ottawa also benefits from the country's current low interest rates and the First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit, which can be claimed by anyone who bought their first home after Jan. 27, 2009. In 2011, this tax credit could have been up to $750.

Desjardins says the plethora of opportunity has been recognized by some Ottawa builders, who now target single buyers in product, location and pricing. Traditionally, single buyers in Ottawa have looked into condos inside the Greenbelt. The central location is convenient and condominiums offer a safe and maintenance-free opportunity for young adults.

But Desjardins points to condo flats and stacked condos now being built in suburbs such as Barrhaven. He notes that buyers are often young, single women looking for a home in a familiar neighbourhood.

"They can get into that suburban condo product at a more moderate price point and they're close to their parents for Sunday dinners," he says.

Young women are buying property across the country, but Ottawa offers an advantage, he says. "We are a white-collar town - We create lots of opportunity here in Ottawa for well-educated professional women to get very good paying jobs, which gives them a better opportunity, if they're so motivated, to make an investment in purchasing real estate."

Maiorino doesn't see a lot of men buying a house independently; more common is a few single men collaborating together to sign a mortgage. He rarely sees this collaboration with women.

Erica Lychak, 30, recently bought a townhome in Nepean. She says she had always assumed taking out a mortgage on her own wasn't possible, but changed her mind once she did some research. After renting a one-bedroom apartment in the west end for four years, Lychak decided to make the "scary" transition from renter to owner.

"As you live in a place longer, your rent increases and it got to the point that the rent payment was equal to, if not slightly more than, what a mortgage payment might be," she says.

Lychak, who is a financial services officer at the Business Development Bank of Canada, says buying a house with one income was daunting, but exciting.

"I look at short-term pain for longterm gain," she says. "You're putting in now for the longer-term investment."

For Rinomato, as a real estate agent and broker in Toronto, she worked with a variety of female clients who were buying property on their own. These women inspired Buy Herself.

Viewers first saw Rinomato as host on the popular HGTV series Property Virgins, where she assisted first-time home buyers in the real estate process. Now, Rinomato is offering her advice to single woman. It's fun, she says, because the women don't need to compromise with a partner.

But Rinomato warns that a buyer's wish-list can get them into trouble. Buyers have to be realistic about their needs, wants and budget and she often has clients who want extra space just for holidays or other celebrations.

"I think you really need to analyse truthfully what your lifestyle is; what property will suit your need 99 per cent of the time."

And there is one thing a buyer should never sacrifice, she says - location.

"Location affects your lifestyle so much and people sometimes underestimate it for the sake of getting that extra bedroom or a den. Sacrifices should come in space on the interior, because people always overestimate what they really need."

Rinomato hopes her new show is fun, informative and gives people the confidence they need to invest in property, whether it be with a partner, friends or individually.

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